Revising vs. Restarting and Holding File
No one likes to throw your work out, but sometimes you get so bogged down in ideas that if you try to revise and rework and cut and paste old with new work, it stops you. At least it does me.
Since I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, I am already a bit behind (oh and was rear-ended yesterday, minor, but I'm going to have to deal with that this week).
And so Chapter 2 and 3 are good but not working, and if I try to revise I will STILL be stuck, I've decided to throw them out. Again.
I do have a Holding file for old chapters, all old work, but I really rarely look at it. But it's a comfort for me.
So, back to work! May you enjoy what you are doing today.
Robin
Since I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, I am already a bit behind (oh and was rear-ended yesterday, minor, but I'm going to have to deal with that this week).
And so Chapter 2 and 3 are good but not working, and if I try to revise I will STILL be stuck, I've decided to throw them out. Again.
I do have a Holding file for old chapters, all old work, but I really rarely look at it. But it's a comfort for me.
So, back to work! May you enjoy what you are doing today.
Robin
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 6:55 AM
4 Comments:
Hope you're feeling well. Throwing out scenes isn't easy, even for scenes that seem trivial and logically have to go.
I wrote a little something to help out, sung to a song from Mary Poppins.
"Trim trimery, trim trimery, trim trim trimoo. A writer makes cuts like no other can do. Trim trimery, trim trimery, trim trim trimee. I'm slashing up scenes with maelevolent glee."
I hope the accident doesn't throw your body too out of whack. I'm just glad it wasn't serious.
And sometimes, yes, the only thing to do is toss it out. Although folks in my online group were shocked that I threw out 16,000 words because I realized they weren't getting me to the story I wanted to tell. I started over, and the story turned out much better.
Still, it's never an easy decision to make, and even less easy to follow through with. I hope your new versions of 2 and 3 work better.
Hope you're feeling better. Got front-ended once and the whiplash didn't show up until three days later, so be gentle with yourself for the next few days.
Taking out about 15,000 words from my latest story as it's way over count, but it's helping to tighten the story and increase pacing. Like you, I put my big edits in a file so I don't feel like I'm losing them for good. I also rarely go back to them. Like my closet, I eventually will sort through and throw them out. Don't know why it's so tough to toss.
If you ever want me to look at a few chapters, I'm here for you.
Dave, that's wonderful!
Peggy and Liz, I've see-sawed back and forth on this and now am trying to "punch it up." This is only Chapter 2...
Thanks again,
Robin
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